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But Black’s attorney Edward Greenspan wanted to make the point that in the newspaper world there’s nothing exceptional about old owners being paid not to compete against new owners. Onto the courtroom screen he projected a list of American towns where Black and Radler had paid noncompetes when they bought papers there. Kirksville, for instance. Craig and Carol Kilmer weren’t names likely to strike fear into the hearts of big-timers like Black and Radler. Yet each had received $100,000 when Black and Radler’s American Publishing subsidiary bought the Kirksville Daily Express and the weekly Kirksville Crier in 1990. The Kilmers owned the Crier, a shopper.
Greenspan was making a point Radler had no particular need to respond to, but he spoke up anyway. “Carol Kilmer happens to be one of the most formidable potential competitors I’ve ever known,” he told the court. “We would never have bought that paper without a noncompete payment with Carol Kilmer.”
On April 11, 1994, the Kilmers’ four-year-old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia. “The company stood with me while I had to live at Saint Louis Children’s Hospital for 105 weeks of chemo,” Kilmer said. “And that was the ultimate test for me personally with American Publishing. Under federal law they only had to hold your job 18 months. There was a meeting — it was Caitlin’s second year of chemo — and I’ll tell you, David came right through the pack and took a hold of my hand and said, ‘How is Caitlin? I want to hear how things are going,’ and he sat by me at lunch. I figured he knew, but he really knew, you know what I mean? He said, ‘Carol, you didn’t have to be here today. I didn’t expect you to be.’ And I said, ‘David, I’m trying to keep up with my job so I can keep my job.”
